Respond to the Case titled: How Microsoft Made Financial Health Contagious, In your ANALYSIS, demonstrate a sound understanding of the concepts and principles of how the problem/issue impacts HR Planning & Staffing; Training & Development; Performance Management; Compensation & Benefits; Employee Relations; Health & Safety; Competitive Global HRM; and Applicable Laws & Regulations. Your case study summary must be (1) at least 500 words in length (about two pages, double spaced), (2) written following APA style,

How Microsoft Made Financial Health Contagious Each year, Microsoft’s HR team reviews the company’s benefits package, looking at costs and how it measures up to other companies in the same industry. Recently, said Sonja Kellen, Microsoft’s director of global retirement benefits, the analysis showed that Microsoft’s health insurance was relatively generous, but its retirement plan was not exceptional. So the team set out to increase the value of its retirement benefits, measured by their contribution to employees’ financial health. For every dollar employees contributed to the 401(k) plan, Microsoft was matching half, up to a maximum of 3% of the employee’s pay. An employee earning $100,000 (not unheard of for high-tech jobs) could contribute $6,000 and get another $3,000 from Microsoft. The company decided to change the maximum in its formula to $9,000, tripling what the employee in the example could receive under the prior formula. Microsoft also helps employees make good choices about their savings plans. One smart choice is simply to commit to investing in one’s retirement. Microsoft facilitates this by immediately enrolling employees and giving them the option to sign up for automatic increases in the amount saved. It has offered employees 15-minute financial-coaching sessions with representatives of Fidelity, which administers the 401(k) plan. Of the employees who signed up for these one-on-one sessions, half made some change in their plan. The company also emails employees personalized messages about the next best step to take toward becoming financial secure, given the steps they have already taken. Not surprisingly for a high-tech company, Microsoft incorporates technology into its investment help for employees. The company uses a web-based app called FiTage, which uses data about each employee’s income and assets to identify the age at which the person will become financially independent at their current rate of saving. Instead of seeing a number of dollars in the account, employees see the age at which they can afford to retire—a metric that is easier to interpret. The app also identifies ways that changes in savings or health-related behaviors would raise or lower the age of financial independence. Two months after Microsoft rolled out the FiTage app, more than one-fifth of the company’s employees had used it. Among the initial results, employees lowered their average FiT age by more than a year. Microsoft added incentives for using the app, and participation increased to half the workforce. The amount they saved grew as well.